Moto Guzzi turns 100 this year, and the company is throwing a party to celebrate.

On March 15, 1921, the founders established Società Anonima Moto Guzzi, with operations based out of Mandello del Lario, where the company is still based.

Although Moto Guzzi is known for its focus on retro-styled models these days, the company’s earliest years were full of innovation, exploration and raw speed. Moto Guzzi was the first motorcycle manufacturer with its own wind tunnel, to help its engineers extract maximum speed on road and track. The work paid off, and Moto Guzzi claimed many race trophies in the first half of the 20th century. The company was also one of the first manufacturers with an emphasis on travel, with Giuseppe Guzzi (founder Carlo Guzzi’s brother) taking a GT 500 Norge all the way to the Arctic Circle in 1928.

Moto Guzzi’s current  lineup owes much to the company’s classic machines of the 1960s, when Guzzi focused on its air-cooled, shaft-driven V-twins. Now, that engine layout is practically a Moto Guzzi trademark on the V7, V85 and V9 lines.

A paint job that recalls Moto Guzzi’s glory years of GP racing.

100th birthday party

Now, there’s a party for Moto Guzzi’s centennial, held at Mandello del Lario, on September 9-12, 2021. We don’t know much about what’s going on at the gathering, but they’re hoping to attract tens of thousands of Moto Guzzi riders to the event. It sounds like there’s going to be some sort of party at the factory by Lake Como, and no doubt more details are coming.

We do know that Moto Guzzi is also releasing three 100th anniversary models to celebrate this milestone. They get satin-finish metal combined with green paint and other specialized trim, recalling the company’s eight-cylinder GP bike of 1955, as well as the 350 Bialbero, which cleaned up nine different world titles between 1953 and 1957.

There’s a new V7 Stone, V9 Bobber and V85TT Adventure coming with the special paint and trim, priced $9,190, $10,690 and $13,190 respectively in the US. The Stone arrives in the US at end of March this year, the Bobber arrives in July, and the V85 TT arrives at end of April. Canada will only get the 100th anniversary editions of the Stone ($11,390, arriving end of April) and the V85TT Adventure ($15,390, arriving end of May).

Vezi sursa